Japan May Spur Economy
After Its Budget Is Passed

TOKYO -- Japan may look like it's thumbing its nose at its trading partners by declining to stimulate its weak economy. But Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto is probably just stalling for time.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and other global leaders used an economic summit by the Group of Seven industrialized nations to insist that Japan help solve Asia's economic crisis by boosting its own currently sluggish economy, which is in no shape to absorb an expected flood of Asian exports. Despite the browbeating, however, Japan...